I was given an eARC of the book by NetGalley/Little, Brown Books in exchange of an honest review.

I enjoyed the premise of the book, as well as the writing style. Personally, I'm not a fan of retellings. However, I didn't know the actual mythology behind it so no harm done there. The book came of as a well-written fairytale with just enough dose of adventure, revenge, romance and magic. Unfortunately, nothing/no one in this book came off as memorable or unforeseen so I docked a point for that.

Regarding the characters, my favorite character in the book was Trefor, hands down! If we limit the list to human characters, then nobody really stood out to me. The characters were just not fleshed out enough for me to to take liking to someone in particular. I felt very detached from the characters. I'd have loved to see either different POVs or just a tad bit more back story to like a character. There was so much more to Renfrew, Mer and Fane than what was portrayed in the books.

In a crux, it is a good one time read YA fantasy read for me.

📚𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬: The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd Jones📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚: Fantasy standalone
𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩: eARC

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙:
Set in the same world as The Bone Houses
Really cool magic system
Impossible quest
Morally gray characters
Hints of romance
Inspired by Welsh folklore
Cutest dog companion ever!

𝙁𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬:
The Drowned Woods is a Welsh retelling of Cantre’r Gwaelod, an ancient sunken city governed by Prince Garanhir. I loved the magic system in this book, including the human diviners of the different elements and ancient otherfolk magic. As a water diviner, Mer can control water—an ability highly sought after by the royalty of the kingdom to use as they wish. After she is forced into the service of Prince Garanhir, she flees in an attempt to find ways to use her magic for good instead of destruction.

When she is presented with an opportunity to overthrow the prince, she agrees to join the band of morally gray characters from around the kingdom in hopes that this will bring her closer to true freedom. There’s also a good doggo companion, Trefor, who is probably the most loveable sneezing corgi ever and deserves to be protected at all costs. Fane is by far my favorite character—he’s got such a great development arc and is just so loveable and good hearted. While romance is definitely not the focus of this book, there are hints at newfound love throughout that were just adorable.

This book was a solid 4⭐️ read for me, until the epilogue—which was an amazing, *chefs kiss*, 5⭐️, perfect way of ending this book. It’s set in the same world as The Bone Houses, and while I don’t think you HAVE to read TBH before this one (totally different characters, etc), I think you would miss out on really understanding why the end is so amazing. It honestly made me want to go reread The Bone Houses!

This was a really great read and I definitely recommend it as a standalone—but consider reading The Bone Houses first to really appreciate how wonderful the ending is 😊

Completely and utterly amazing. Laughing, crying, sorrow, pain, love, you name it, I felt it reading this. This book sucked me in from the first page, and held me through the end. There were no lulls or filler or info dumps that felt out of place. Everything was written so beautifully, and I was instantly transported into this world. Mer is the best character, she’s perfectly flawed and you just root for her through everything. The twists and turns and the magic just made this *chef’s kiss*. I absolutely love this author and I can’t wait to read more of her books. Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I just love this author. I will read anything written by them. I was not disappointed at all in this book. I love dark fairytales and this one was awesome. Mer is such a kick butt heroine. You are rooting for her from the very beginning. The story pulled me in and I didn't want to put it down. I cannot wait to read more by this author. Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book did not have the creativity and spark that Emily Lloyd-Jones's previous books did for me - the heist element and characters seemed a bit unmotivated. I loved the Bone Houses but this one was not for me.

4.5*

mer, a water diviner, has been on the run for years from the prince who she once served. when offered a proposition by her former handler to take down the prince, mer agrees. along the way she meets fane, who’s fae-cursed, ifanna, the lady of thieves and a corgi!

i loved the setting in this. it’s set in the same world as the bone houses but with an entirely new cast. however, you see how they’re connected in the epilogue!

mer was a fantastic main character. you could really feel her struggles and how she has been used her whole life. fane was also great! learning about his backstory and how he got his magic was really interesting and i liked his character arc. ifanna was less of a main character but still
prominent! i wish we got a little more from her that wasn’t just about mer’s past relationship with her.

my absolute favourite thing was the casual, unapologetic queer rep!! i had no idea this book had a queer main character and i was so happy when it was casually said. mer had a past relationship with ifanna, and it wasn’t treated as something that was shocking or anything, just normal. it was really refreshing to see a story about a queer character that’s so casual, and without any homophobia as well.

my one dislike is that i felt at times the story was really predictable and basic. i think this could’ve been saved by fleshing out the characters more and made it less slow at times as well.

overall, this was great!!

thank you to netgalley and little brown books for giving me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for an ARC in exchange for a review. I will also say that I haven't read Lloyd-Jones' previous book, but I am definitely curious about it now.

I really liked The Drowned Woods, which is about Mer, the last water diviner, who is hired to do a heist in order to wrench some power from the prince by the prince's former spymaster. The crew also includes a guy who is "cursed" by fae, Just Some Guy, a scholar, her ex (a thief), and a corgi. Then things... go a little bit awry.

I generally liked this, and thought that using Welsh mythology was a fun take on fantasy that I haven't seen before. I thought the magic was neat and the stakes were good, but at times I felt like the pacing was uneven (it has a very strong start and a very strong end, but the middle ranges from good to meh). Still, it read very well and I think the writing was rich and vivid. I also really appreciated the casual queerness in this book, and while there is a bit of a romance it's not all that important, which was something else I liked.

It is also a very much a YA novel. I don't think that's a bad thing, and it is obviously marketed as a young adult novel. I tend to be very selective about what YA I read, so to me this felt pretty fresh, though I do see people mention it has similar vibes to other YA fantasies, so how you'll feel about that will probably depend on what types of books you read. On some level I was missing a certain layer of complexity, however I think in that regard what I was looking for probably would've bumped this book up to adult fantasy, and I do think this exists in the YA space very well.

I thought this was a fun read with a base in a mythology I haven't read a lot about with some interesting, albeit familiar, plot lines. The writing is good and I found the book to be very readable, and I enjoyed the time I spent reading.

This book is Six of Crows meets The Last Airbender, however unlike those blockbuster series, this book falls rather flat.

The book starts off strong with a prologue that draws you right into the magic and mythology of the story. But then everything quickly slows down. I got nearly 60% of the way through the story when I realized I was still waiting for the action to pick up and to feel connected to the characters. Unfortunately that didn’t happen until the last 80%.

Mer, Fane, Ifanna, Renfrew have such potential, with their backstories and unique gifts, but they never tugged at my heartstrings. Even their relationships with each other do not go beyond surface-level interactions. I didn’t NEED to keep reading to find out how their story ends, but had to force myself to keep going, hoping something would move me. The ending though, redeemed the story, wrapping up the character arcs and plot lines perfectly.

Overall, a solid beginning and a fantastic ending. The prologues to each section were also beautifully written. I wish that style had carried through to the remainder of the book. I give it a 3.5 rating for those moments of brilliance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC!

Oh this book, this overly ambitious book that broke my heart a little, because it ended up being such a let down.

The premise is so promising: a young, tortured water diviner on the run from a tragic past meets up with her former mentor to form a rag-tag crew of misfits for the ultimate heist. Unfortunately, the story falls prey to poor pacing (the first half of the book was a slog) and shallow character development (partly to do with too many POVs). Much of the characters' background is given to us in brief flashback or simply told to us, and by the end of the book, I felt I didn't really know or care about most of them. There was rather a lot of telling and not showing in general, and some repetitive writing/phrasing. A lot of the character development felt forced, particularly the romance.

I regret leaving such a poor review, but I really had to force myself to finish this book. The author is clearly talented; sadly this was just poorly executed.

I love Emily's writing. It's so atmospheric and lush. The characters are amazing, especially the corgi, Trefor. Trefor is honestly my favorite character. There was some romance but it wasn't the main focus, which I appreciated.

Thank you to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for an ARC of The Drowned Woods in exchange for an honest review! This book was interesting and I'm not completely sure where I stand on it. Little, Brown has an incredible track record for YA with series like The Inheritance Games, The Folk of the Air, and Kingdom of the Wicked series falling under its imprint. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of those series for the writing and premise alone.

The Drowned Woods is a Welsh mythology inspired fantasy and follows Mer, the last living water diviner, a corgi, magic, a prince, and more. I think the issue I had with this book is the multiple points of view when I felt that the story might have flowed better with just one. There's magic and adventure but not a lot of flesh to the characters. I am assuming this book will be a series so there will be time for that but I think that this first book really could have used more of that. The writing, while beautiful and lyrical, struggled to keep my attention at times, even when we were in the most critical and action-packed parts of the story.

Overall, I did really like this book and would also recommend it to fans of The Raven Cycle and its vibes. I will definitely be reading the next book and have high hopes that it will be better than the first. I love Emily Lloyd-Jones's writing style and this book was definitely worth diving into and a new series to keep up with.

3.75 stars.

The Drowned Woods is the newest novel by author Emily Lloyd-Jones. In this book, we follow Mer, the last water diviner who is currently in hiding after being tricked by the prince into killing hundreds of people. When an old friend gets back in contact with Mer, he has a plan to get back at the prince but he needs Mer’s helping. Together they set off on an adventure, picking up a few travel companions along the way. One of them is a magic sensitive corgi so that alone is enough to pick up this book.

I really enjoyed The Bone Houses by this author so I was anticipating what she would write next. What she manages to do was a craft a unique system within a world inspired by welsh folklore that wraps itself up in less than 400 pages.

I loved this rich, atmospheric world. You really feel like you are in the welsh forests with these characters. The magic was super interesting and unique. Some of the lines had me laughing out loud. I feel like every characters’ motivations were laid out so you know what is important to them.

If you are someone who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy but would like to, this is a perfect book to pick up. This book does take place in the same world as The Bones Houses and while you don’t have to read that book before this one, if you have read it, you will get a little bit more out of this book.

Mer was taken from her family when she was 8 years old. She was a water diviner. Her parents tried to hide her magic as long as possible, but word got out and the prince wanted her. A man named Renfrew came to get her. He trained her and became someone like a father to her. After the prince branded Mer, she fled and never stayed in one place for long. She knew that he would always be looking for her.

Fane had magic, too, but his wasn't one he was born with. Fane got his magic from the otherfolk in the woods. Fane could sense iron, but he also had other magic that he didn't want to use. Because of that magic, he really didn't touch people. His corgi traveled everywhere with him. Fane was fighting one day when Renfrew and Mer found him and offered a job. Renfrew found Mer first and told her that he left the prince after finding out his plans to take over other lands. He told Mer and Fane that there is a magic well on an island and that would be the way to bring down the prince. They had two others with them that Renfrew found to help. Mer ended up need to find her ex girlfriend and she joined the crew. They had to get through caves to get to the island unseen. Others have tried to get to the well, but none have ever survived.

I enjoyed this. The corgi was the best. There was some romance, but not a lot. The pacing was a bit slow, but it didn't drag too much.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

"WOW"

NOTE: I received early access from NetGalley, for this manuscript, in exchange for writing an impartial review. Completed on 6/24/2022.
WOW WOW WOW!
I was absolutely in love with this book by the end and sorry to see it end. Could've easily submerged myself in a few hundred more pages of this story.
I really felt as if this had a lot of originality to it and even though it has your typical fantasy characters and world building expectations, it still had the sentiment of originality throughout the end.

Each major character was finely structure, and left you with a decent portrayal of just exactly who and what they were. I actually ended up greatly disliking one in particular, she was almost too developed for me to care for. Especially considering she was a traitor to the main character, who I personally was cheering for throughout the entirety of the book.

I appreciated the circumstances outlined, and by the end, that every plot and subplot had been disclosed. I reached fulfillment in my answers knowing what happened, past, present, and future. Yet, I could believe undeniably that a 2nd book following the 2 main characters into their new journey could easily follow.
Highly recommend for anyone attracted to the genre of Fantasy.

"A person with a knife was one thing. A person with a knife and a cause could topple kingdoms.”

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast-paced Welsh myth retelling of Cantre'r Gwaelod—a lost underwater city— featuring:

- a heist
- unique magic system
- a Corgi companion (don’t worry, he survives!)
- bisexual main character

Mer is the last living water diviner, which means she can sense and pull on water from anywhere— including drowning or boiling a human body from the inside. Fane made a deal after the loss of his family—in exchange for revenge, he’s given the power to sense iron and work for the mysterious Otherfolk. Together with the king’s former spymaster and the heir to a thieves guild, they set off to find a secret Well with the power to change the fate of the kingdom.

This book immediately sucked me into the story, tripped me up with all the twists and reveals, and stuck the landing. While this won’t be a new all-time favorite of mine, I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for sending me a digital arc of this book in return for my honest review.

The Drowned Woods is inspired by the Welsh mythology of Cantre'r Gwaelod. I've never heard of this myth until this book and I always appreciate when books do mythology retellings.

I thought the premise seemed interesting with us following Mer, a water diviner, and a crew of allies to find a magical well. The prologue was strong and the book started off pretty good but once the crew was finally put together, the heist and the ending seemed a little anticlimactic I didn't find myself attached to any of the characters and I felt nothing for the little romance we got. I did enjoy the very last chapter though.

Looking back at it, it was an okay YA fantasy with interesting magic.

I received an e-arc of The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read The Bones Houses before going into this one, as it's set in the same world, and I think you do get more from the story if you read The Bones Houses first.
I enjoyed this one, I feel like it has a similar vibe to The Raven Cycle in that there's a magical forest and it's connected to Welsh folklore. I was really into the magic system, how Mer was kinda like a water bender, and there were other types of magic like stone and iron.
I was kinda expecting more, but overall it was a quick and intriguing read, I liked this one more than The Bones Houses.
3.5 stars.

The Drowned Woods is a book that crept up on me. If you love the idea of a group heist - a series of unlikely temporary allies coming together - then this is for you! Within The Drowned Woods there are puzzle like riddles, adventures which will demand us to face our fears, and more. The adventure felt fast paced, a strong and fast current which pulls us out to sea. If you love this idea of lore and magic intertwining with adventure hunting, The Drowned Woods delivers.

The characters were my favorite element. I loved not only Mer's powers, but how she has to come to terms with her past. How as a child she was socialized and taught to deny it, and then to use it purely for power, but how she has never really been able to sit with it. To be who she is without fear or with abandon. Added to that, Mer meets Fane who is a POV who quickly charmed me. I love the tension Lloyd-Jones created with the reveals and secrets.

This was a solid 4 star read the entire book, up until I read the epilogue. It explains how this story is connected to ‘The Bone Houses’ and I gasped! It's literally the most perfect thing, so I'm rounding up!

This book retells the Welsh myth of Cantre'r Gwaelod, which explains the origins of Cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales. Some say physical proof of this tale was found when storms in 2014 and 2019 exposed parts a submerged forest on the shore, carbon dating back to 1500 BCE. Hence the title.

All I can say is Welsh folklore is some of the most magical, albeit dark, and this book definitely showcases that. I will forever love ELJ for giving Welsh mythology the attention it deserves.

And the reason this wasn't quite worth 5 stars for me for most of the book was because the characters felt a little flat (other than Fane - his character arc is *chef kiss*). So it wasn't until I read the epilogue and saw how they were related to the characters in ‘The Bone Houses’ that I could actually appreciate all of them, their story, and their struggle. It definitely made me enjoy this much more.

So overall, a great addition to ELJ's bibliography and definitely one to look forward to if you want to learn more about Welsh legends!

The Drowned Woods

A magical, ethereal fantasy from IndieBound bestselling author Emily Lloyd-Jones.

Once upon a time, the kingdoms of Wales were rife with magic and conflict, and eighteen-year-old Mererid “Mer” is well-acquainted with both. She is the last living water diviner and has spent years running from the prince who bound her into his service. Under the prince’s orders, she located the wells of his enemies, and he poisoned them without her knowledge, causing hundreds of deaths. After discovering what he had done, Mer went to great lengths to disappear from his reach. Then Mer’s old handler returns with a proposition: use her powers to bring down the very prince that abused them both.

The best way to do that is to destroy the magical well that keeps the prince’s lands safe. With a motley crew of allies, including a fae-cursed young man, the lady of thieves, and a corgi that may or may not be a spy, Mer may finally be able to steal precious freedom and peace for herself. After all, a person with a knife is one thing…but a person with a cause can topple kingdoms.

The Drowned Woods—set in the same world as The Bone Houses but with a whole new, unforgettable cast of characters—is part heist novel, part dark fairy tale.